Manny Deal Particulars

PIRATES ACQUIRE FOUR PLAYERS IN THREE-TEAM TRADE WITH

BOSTON AND LOS ANGELES DODGERS

The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced they have acquired third basemanAndy LaRoche and righthanded pitcher Avery (Bryan) Morris from the Los Angeles Dodgersorganization along withright-handed pitcher Craig Hansen and outfielder Brandon Mossfrom the Boston Red Sox organization as part of a three-team trade in which Boston received outfielder Jason Bay from the Pirates. The announcement was made by Pirates Senior Vice President, General Manager Neal Huntington.

Craig Hansen began the year with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, where he was 1-0 with a 1.62 ERA (16.2ip/3er), 17 strikeouts and a .107 batting average against in 11 relief appearances. The 24-year-old righthander was recalled by Boston on May 5 and posted a 1-2 record and two saves in 32 relief appearances. Hansen was Boston’s first round selection in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft and became the first player in Red Sox history to reach the majors in the year he was drafted. He has gone 3-5 with two saves in 74 career relief appearances in the big leagues.

Andy LaRoche, who is the younger brother of Pirates first baseman Adam LaRoche, was rated as the Dodgers’ second-best prospect by Baseball America entering the 2008 season. He began this year with Double-A Jacksonville, where he hit .318 (7-for-22) in six games while on a rehab assignment. He also hit .293 (36-for-123) with three doubles, five home runs and 28 RBI in 39 games with Triple-A Las Vegas. The 24-year-old third baseman also spent 27 games this year with the Dodgers, where he hit .203 (12-for-59) with a double, two home runs and six RBI in 27 games.

LaRoche was named to the All-Star Futures Game in 2005 in his third professional season while leading all Dodgers farmhands in home runs (30) and total bases (263). During that same season he was also tabbed by Baseball America as the Florida State League’s “Best Hitting Prospect” and “Best Power Prospect”. Andy entered the 2006 campaign rated as the second-best prospsect in the Dodgers organization by Baseball America. In addition, the same publication also tabbed him as owning the “Best Infield Arm” in the Dodgers minor league system. Last year he entered the season as Los Angeles’ number one prospect according to Baseball America and went on to make his major league debut, where he hit .226 with five doubles, one home run and 10 RBI in 35 games.

Brandon Moss split the season between Triple-A Pawtucket and Boston. In 34 games with the Red Sox he hit .295 (23-for-78) with five doubles, two home runs and seven runs scored while making 14 appearances (eight starts) in right field, 11 appearances (eight starts) in left field and two appearances (one start) at first base. He also hit .282 (46-for-163) with eight doubles, eight home runs and 30 RBI in 43 games with Pawtucket. The 24-year-old Moss was selected by the Red Sox in the eighth round of the 2002 June Draft and was named Boston’s Minor League Player-of-the-Year two years later after hitting .353 with 27 doubles, seven triples, 15 home runs and 111 RBI in 132 games between Single-A Augusta and Sarasota. Last year he took home Triple-A Pawtucket’s team MVP honors while being named to the International League midseason All-Star team after leading the league with 41 doubles and 59 extra base hits.

Righthanded pitcher Bryan Morris posted a 2-4 record and 3.20 ERA (81.2ip/29er) along with 72 strikeouts this year for Single-A Great Lakes of the Midwest League. The 21-year-old righthander was charged with three earned runs or less in 15 of his 17 starts with Great Lakes. He also went 1-1 with a 2.06 ERA (39.1ip/9er) in his six starts this month for the Loons. Morris was selected by Los Angeles in the first round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft as a compensation pick. During his first professional season in 2006 he was tabbed by Baseball America as having the “Best Breaking Ball” and “Best Fastball” in the Dodgers’ 2006 draft class.

It is a good day to be a Dodgers fan. This is the bat we needed. Hopefully Manny will be the spark the team needs to pull away in the division. Arizona may on paper be the favorites, but they sure are not playing like it.
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Brian from Columbia Missouri

Presumably, the main outfield going forward will be Manny/Pierre/Kemp, with Ethier as the 4th and Andruw as the defensive caddy, mid-innings PH and payroll albatross. Ideally we’d see Kemp in CF with Ethier in RF, but that’s unlikely given Torre’s penchant for veterans and lineup construction (Pierre leading off). I don’t think Kemp will lose meaningful at-bats as a result, though… he got on a serious tear in July and I don’t think Torre will screw around with that.
–CS

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